Mogfordhttp://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk
Oxford Hotels and RestaurantsMon, 16 Feb 2015 14:08:20 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing 2015http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/LA8Tm7HGa9k/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2015/01/10/jeremy-mogford-prize-for-food-and-drink-writing-2015/#commentsSat, 10 Jan 2015 10:19:31 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3988Entries are now being sought for the 2015 Jeremy Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing, the annual short story competition run by the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival in association with Oxford Gastronomica, part of the Oxford School of Hospitality Management at Oxford Brookes University.

Food and drink has to be at the heart of the tale. The story could, for instance, be fiction or fact about a chance meeting over a drink, a life-changing conversation over dinner, or a relationship explored through food or drink. It could be crime or intrigue; in fact, any subject as long as it involves food and/or drink in some way.

Applicants are invited from anywhere in the world. They can be published or unpublished authors, but the entry itself must be previously unpublished. The story should be up to 2500 words and must be written in English.

Entries should be submitted by email as a Word document to mogfordprize@oxfordliteraryfestival.org by February 25th 2015 (one submission per person and not previously published). Entrants should also supply their home address, email and telephone number, their age and profession.

The winning entry will be announced at the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival in March 2015 and the winner will be presented with £7500.

The 2014 winner was Guy Carter, a London-based caricaturist, for his entry, Carnivores. He received a cheque for £7,500 from Jeremy Mogford, owner of The Old Parsonage, The Old Bank, Quod and Gee’s, at a celebration dinner at Gee’s restaurant in Oxford.

There were almost 400 entries submitted from all over the world but judges preferred Carnivores, the tale of an exclusive restaurant franchise serving exotic meats that had an unsavoury twist at the end.

All entries submitted remain the property of the entrant. However, the FT Weekend Oxford Literary Festival, Mogford Group and their subsidiaries/associates retain the right to publish the winning and highly commended entries without fee – including the right to print an excerpt for use on festival promotional materials, for example website/brochure and in any festival media or broadcasting coverage, without fee; and the right for entries to be read in public during the festival without fee.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2015/01/10/jeremy-mogford-prize-for-food-and-drink-writing-2015/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2015/01/10/jeremy-mogford-prize-for-food-and-drink-writing-2015/“Ancient, modern, arty…” Old Parsonage reviewed in FT weekend magazinehttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/u2rRtfvkk84/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/12/20/ancient-modern-arty-old-parsonage-reviewed-in-ft-weekend-magazine/#commentsSat, 20 Dec 2014 13:05:02 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3972When I was a child, I used to visit Oxford with my father for a treat. It was always Sunday afternoon, the light was always golden, the buildings all looked like nice churches and we always had afternoon tea. Quite a lot to live up to perhaps, on a winter weekend decades later.

The Old Parsonage Hotel is smack in the middle of town, right next to St Giles’ Church, and more than capable of fulfilling anybody’s wistful memories or fantasies of Oxford. In fact, it is on a mission to do so. The current owner — Jeremy Mogford, founder of the Browns restaurant chain — has preserved the original 17th-century house, while adding a large dollop of essence of Oxford to the mix.

We arrived at lunchtime, pushed open the ancient front door and ducked inside. The hotel reception is tucked into the corner of a handsome old bar room: huge stone fireplace, low ceilings, walls painted off-black, everything else glowing in reds and purples and a lot — a lot — of oil paintings. Polite young and staff were stationed all around.

The bar was extremely busy. It was graduation day in Oxford, so lots of families were meeting and greeting and eating lunch. We found a quiet corner and had a snack, which arrived on modern bone china with linen napkins and gleaming silverware.

The pride of the hotel is a new floor of seven bedrooms built on top of the original structure, taking the total number of rooms to a Tardis-like 35. The new floor is all sleek glass and warm tones, and so quiet and discreet and full of stairs that it is like navigating an Escher drawing. Fascinating old prints of Oxford — from originals in the Bodleian — cover the walls. Our room, a junior suite, was open-plan and gorgeous, with a spectacular glass-walled bathroom area.

By the time we had unpacked the light was already fading, so we dashed out to sniff the air. It was only a five-minute stroll, on streets full of excited graduands, to the Ashmolean, the colleges and other Oxford landmarks. Back at the hotel, the afternoon ended with scones in the new residents’ library. This has big sofas, books chosen by a scion of the Blackwell family and arty black-and-white photos of 1960s Oxford: glamorous girls in floppy hats lying by the river and boys looking like David Hemmings.

Later, over dinner, we were surrounded by a somewhat older Oxford crowd. Mogford’s collection of portraits, mainly from the 1930s and 1940s, is the hotel’s defining feature, designed, says the brochure, to give a clubby feel “reminiscent of the Bloomsbury period”. But that rather undersells it: by our table was a portrait of Paul Roche by Duncan Grant — not just Bloomsbury style but the actual thing. The atmosphere in the dining room was buzzy but relaxing, the food very good (rabbit and chanterelle pie and crème brûlée).

The next day was Remembrance Sunday, and after breakfast we stepped out into St Giles. Bands were playing a march, hundreds lined the street and many young men and women were parading in uniform with proud, serious faces.
A golden morning.

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http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/15/decembers-seasonal-menus/#commentsMon, 15 Sep 2014 10:28:47 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3837Christmas menus are now available for Quod, Gee’s & the Parsonage with all our restaurants remaining open on Christmas Day & Boxing Day. Book ahead to secure the preferred date for your party. We have a choice of menus running from 24th November until December 31st – perfect for a get together with friends, family or a business celebration.

The Seasonal party menu is served in the restaurant, the Red Room & the Gallery. If you would like to look at either of these rooms just contact us or ask next time you are in the restaurant. As usual Quod remains open throughout the celebrations, serving our Christmas day menu for £65.00 plus 12.5% service charge, menu appearing very shortly.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/15/decembers-seasonal-menus/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/15/decembers-seasonal-menus/Sunday Times picks Quodhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/nLlRYc-0pdg/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/02/sunday-times-picks-quod/#commentsTue, 02 Sep 2014 13:44:59 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3826The Sunday Times has picked Quod to feature in its national ‘top three of the best all-day restaurants’.

A bustling restaurant on the high street that serves breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea & dinner. Bag a table by the window or, on a sunny day, the terrace.

THE SUNDAY TIMES 24th August 2014

The other best of three all day restaurants chosen were Bill’s, in Lewes, Sussex & Ego Cafe Bar, Ludlow, Shropshire.

Quod is open every day serving breakfast from 7am, set lunch served weekdays from noon until 7pm, afternoon tea, cocktails & dinner. Take advantage of the last of the summer rays of summer sun to enjoy our sheltered terrace.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/02/sunday-times-picks-quod/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/09/02/sunday-times-picks-quod/Collection of maps trace city’s historic eventshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/l928JrnMP10/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/06/11/collection-of-citys-historic-events/#commentsWed, 11 Jun 2014 11:57:43 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3764Hitler had plans for Oxford. For proof, check the walls of the Old Parsonage Hotel. On display: a starkly elegant map – or “Stadtplan” – of the city, prepared by the German army. Possibly it was just for the use of invading troops; maybe as some historians have speculated, the Fuhrer wanted Oxford for his capital once British resistance had been subdued.

That’s just one of the intriguing historical insights to emerge from the collection of 17 maps that now decorate the walls of the hotel, copied from the originals held in the Bodleian Library.

Some are strictly functional – try the 1872 map of Oxford’s sewers – others gloriously evocative of the time of flowing gowns and mortar boards. But when combined they chart the history of Oxford – social, academic and political – over more than 400 years, as the tidy grid-plan settlement of the early Middle Ages morphs into today’s sprawl.

What’s clear is that Oxford, whatever its ivory tower reputation, was never quite isolated from the mainstream of the nation’s history. “Oxforde as it now lyeth fortified by his Majesties’ forces”: a map of 1644, depicts the elaborate fortifications constructed during the Civil War when Oxford was the Royalist capital, often under siege from Cromwell’s army. Cannon are shown in the gardens of Magdalen College; cavalry horses graze in Christ Church Meadow.

Nor was it ever free of the vices that blighted other more workaday cities. An 1883 “Drink Map of Oxford” shows no fewer than 125 “beer houses” and 143 other “licensed houses” at a time when the population of the city remained at a fraction of its modern size. And death was never far away. Dr Acland’s cholera map of 1854 shows the scattering of sites around the city where cases were recorded.

Above all, what emerges is a city that adapts, however slowly, to the times. Take the plans for the elegant northern suburbs, built for the expanding bourgeoisie of the Victorian era or the more working class districts to the northwest, thrown up in just a few decades to house the workers of the university printing works. Those famous dreaming spires still look down over a city that’s somehow ever changing – and changeless.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/04/29/may-morning-breakfast/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/04/29/may-morning-breakfast/Spring Recruitment open day May 6thhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/5TcYqTEdU8c/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/04/25/spring-recruitment-open-day-may-6th/#commentsFri, 25 Apr 2014 13:41:53 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3724Following the success of our previous recruitment open days we are delighted to announce another opportunity for prospective employees to meet with us and find out more about our luxury restaurants and hotels in the centre of Oxford.

We are looking for highly motivated people to join us in the following positions at Quod Brasserie, Gee’s Restaurant and the Old Parsonage Hotel.

Quod Brasserie:
Waiters/Waitresses
Chefs

Old Parsonage:
Guest Service Attendant
Room Attendant
Chefs

Gee’s Restaurant:
Waiters / Waitresses

If you would like to discuss becoming part of our team, please feel welcome to come and join us on May 6th for a short interview with the Head of the Department between 1pm and 4pm at the Old Bank Hotel.

Please bring proof of eligibility to work and your CV.
We look forward to seeing you there!

If you would like further information, or are unable to come to our open day please contact Hannah Sichel, HR Manager at hannah@mogford.co.uk

OLD BANK HOTEL, 92 – 94 HIGH STREET, OXFORD, OX1 4BJ

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/04/25/spring-recruitment-open-day-may-6th/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/04/25/spring-recruitment-open-day-may-6th/Our new Parsonage kitchenhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/LvSt36NeVNk/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/03/05/our-new-parsonage-kitchen/#commentsWed, 05 Mar 2014 11:00:33 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3687As carpet fitters, electricians, decorators & furniture installers busy themselves on every floor in preparation for our opening, the new kitchen, one of the first major installations, has been sitting ready to go for a few weeks now.

An all electric, energy efficient kitchen has been designed to make the best use of the space. This will be a very clean, green environment to work in. Causing some excitement amongst our chefs is the new pastry section. Looks rather promising for our already legendary afternoon teas.

The increased space & state of the art equipment selected for our new menu means Steve Smith Head Chef at the Parsonage (previously Sous Chef at Quod) can’t wait to get started.

The kitchen has been designed by Derek White of SeftonHornWinch. The cooking suite has been made by Ambach.

Menus will be appearing on the website in a couple of weeks. We are taking bookings on 01865 310210.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/03/05/our-new-parsonage-kitchen/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/03/05/our-new-parsonage-kitchen/WC 3rd February Residents Garden Libraryhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/-UUUtTX9n_Q/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/02/04/wc-3rd-february-residents-garden-library/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 15:21:58 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3640This month, work continues as we construct the residents garden library, a new space for our guests to relax in. This is an important addition to the hotel and something that we are all very excited about.

The residents garden library is situated on the first floor of the hotel, an intimate space with an all-glass wall and a floor of distressed oak, laid in a chevron parquet pattern. Sliding doors will open onto the roof terrace featuring four pots with architectural cloud trees.

The modern interior will contain a library of books on travel, culture, food, art and Oxford as well as some novels. In addition there will be a games cupboard to amuse – chess, backgammon, draughts and other favourites. A new collection of specially commissioned Paddy Summerfield photographs will be on display.

]]>http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/02/04/wc-3rd-february-residents-garden-library/feed/0http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/02/04/wc-3rd-february-residents-garden-library/Hold a party in the Red Room or enjoy afternoon tea on us at Quodhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mogford-news/~3/7uFeuEvW-rw/
http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/blog/2014/02/04/hold-a-party-in-the-red-room-or-enjoy-afternoon-tea-on-us-at-quod/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 13:28:22 +0000http://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/?p=3642Sign up to our monthly enewsletter containing news from the kitchens & farm, exclusive offers, hotel breaks, jazz & art… and enter our draw taking place March 30th.

FIRST PRIZE
Enjoy lunch or dinner for up to ten people. With its red walls, stone floors & collection of contemporary British art, the Red Room is the perfect venue to meet or celebrate in style. Centrally located & beautifully presented with private parking, the Red Room is one of three rooms available to book at Quod.

SECOND PRIZE
The second entry to be drawn at random entitles four people to enjoy champagne afternoon tea. Choose from a selection of freshly prepared sandwiches; cakes & scones, with clotted cream & jam, are baked daily. Served with a glass of champagne & a choice of tea.

In the heart of Oxford, overlooking Radcliffe Square & University colleges, Quod is the perfecting resting place for afternoon tea.

To enter all you have to do is pop into Quod to pick up a postcard and fill in your details to sign up to our monthly e-newsletter.